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New Surveys from Saint Leo Highlight National and State Politics and Policies

March 28, 2014

Floridians continue to provide
valuable perspective on political feelings nationwide. New survey
results issued this week by the Saint Leo University Polling
Institute captured current attitudes toward state and national
political figures, the political after-effect of the Affordable
Care Act, immigration, minimum wage, and the legalization of
marijuana. Just-released March poll results are getting widespread
attention from media outlets that are finding the Saint Leo
University Polling Institute’s nonpartisan work reliable and
newsworthy.

For instance, the poll inquired about the appeal
among voters of likely 2016 presidential political primary
candidates. Among Florida’s likely voter Democrats, former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had an 84 percent favorability
rating with Vice President Joe Biden’s at 66 percent. Among
Florida’s likely Republican voters, Jeb Bush’s favorability rating
came in at 90 percent, while New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s
is at 55 percent (down 13 percent from the polling institute’s
December quarterly poll). Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan (also the
former vice presidential candidate) ranked second with 75
percent.

“The story of this poll is the rise of Jeb Bush as
not only viable, but a front runner for the Republican nomination,”
Frank Orlando (pictured), political science instructor at
Saint Leo University commented. “After keeping a low profile since
the end of his second term as governor in 2007, he's re-emerged
with some of the best favorability numbers of all the Republicans
mentioned as 2016 candidates. He moved from fourth to first in our
question asking Republicans which they would feel comfortable
supporting in just the last few months,” Orlando explained.

The Saint Leo political scientist continued: “Chris
Christie's numbers have declined since our December poll, largely
due to revelations about the ‘Bridgegate’ scandal coming to light.
Still, more voters expressed an opinion about him than any of the
other candidates we asked about. This kind of name recognition is
important, and although he is viewed less favorably than he was in
December, there's a long way to go until 2016.”

Mr. Orlando’s comments were quoted nationally in
media outlets.

The Saint Leo University Polling Institute also
released results from the same survey conducted among a national
base of voters.

Also, the survey inquired about how much Americans
follow sports and attend religious services, among other
topics.